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Governor of West Bengal forwards consumers’ plea on housing act to government

Written by Newsroom Staff December 27, 2018 15:54

New Delhi: Governor Keshari Nath Tripathy has forwarded the letter from representatives of home buyers demanding the repeal of West Bengal (Housing Industry Regulation) Act, 2017, to state housing department and advised appropriate action on the matter.

According to a report Times of India, Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), a pan-India home buyers’ association that was earlier known as Fight for RERA, has been remonstrating against the introduction of WBHIRA, a state-specific legislation that was introduced after Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, was passed in Parliament, and questioned the former’s validity.

Citing the state’s delay in framing the rules within six months of RERA’s enactment, FPCE president Abhay Upadhyay recounted how the state had introduced a new legislation that diluted at least two RERA provisions, said the report.

“RERA has been passed by the Parliament, which applies pan-India with the intent to have a uniform law for the sector across the country. It was with this intention in mind that Parliament repealed the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) Act, 2012 despite it having Presidential assent, and subsequently the Kerala Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2015, on the subject and adopted RERA,” Upadhyay wrote in the letter to Thripathy.

While RERA was passed in Parliament in March 2016, the Governor gave his assent to WBHIRA on October 17, 2017.

This, FPCE argues, has led to a situation in which there are two separate laws on the same subject in West Bengal, one that has been passed in Parliament and has Presidential assent and another passed in the state Assembly and has the Governor’s assent.

“We feel that the state had failed to duty apprise the Governor of the existence of RERA at the time of seeking assent on WBHIRA,” Upadhyay said.